The victory by Kenseth slipped into the shadows, however, in the aftermath of the Busch versus Keselowski card.

With the laps winding down and Kenseth out front, Busch was third and trying to find a way to get around second-place Keselowski as both tried to keep pace with the race leader. Contact from Busch's Toyota sent Keselowski's Ford spinning down across the track apron, then up across the track and eventually into the wall.

After climbing from his car, the defending NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champ took a cursory glance at the No. 22 Ford, and then began jogging toward pit road, toward Busch's pit stall, issuing a series of hand gestures along the way.

He then continued up pit road until officials temporarily halted his progress near one of the track's openings along pit wall.

"It was hard racing up until then," Keselowski said afterward. "It was good, hard racing. It was probably going to be for the win.

"Without the yellow (for the caution), it was doubtful the 18 (of Kenseth) would have made it. Maybe he would. The odds were in the favor of whoever was going to win the battle between me and Kyle so I'm sure Kyle knew that."

Kenseth, who took over the top spot on lap 166, had been attempting to save fuel, but it was unclear whether he could have made it to the end of the race without the caution. In the end, it didn't matter.

"He didn't want me to race him hard so he just dumped me down the straightaway," Keselowski said of Busch. "I think that's pretty self-explanatory, and I'm not going to stand for it. He's got a lot more to lose than I do. I guess that's the only good thing about not being in the Chase."

Busch is one of 13 drivers competing for this year's Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup to determine the series' champion. Keselowski failed to qualify for the 10-race battle.

Busch said he "got wrecked for the Chase spot at Watkins Glen (last season) by Brad Keselowski and then had an opportunity to wreck him several times throughout the Chase and didn't.

"I let him and Jimmie (Johnson) battle it out on their own. He ultimately won the deal. If I wanted to I could have cost Brad Keselowski the championship but I'm a bigger person than that."

Busch, a 10-time winner in the Nationwide Series this season, did not lead a lap Saturday. Keselowski, who has five wins, led once for 15 of the race's 200 laps.

"I got tight. I was tight behind him, I was on the bottom and sliding across the back of him," Busch, who finished fourth, said. "I was just too tight. I don't know why he was not fast enough to stay away from me, but I was obviously faster than he was for as tight as I was.

"When I got underneath him a little bit there off turn four I got inside his wake, got too close to him and it pulled me. It pulled me right into him. Once we touched he was gone."

Keselowski, 28th on the day, said he had raced Busch "really cool over the last year to be respectful to him and try to repair our relationship.

"… He put me in the fence in Chicago in the truck race and the Nationwide races he has been pulling this crap," he said. "It is not going to last, I can tell you that.

"I feel bad for the guys next to me that are going to have to fix his stuff. That is going to be part of racing and they are going to have to deal with it.”

The two teams are locked in a battle for the series' owner's championship, with Penske Racing holding a five-point advantage following Saturday's race. The advantage had been 34 points prior to the event.

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